Worship matters. That was the bottom line to last Sabbath’s message on “Worthy Worship”—part four in the Boot Camp for the Last Days sermon series. Rewind to Revelation 14:7 (last part) for the key thought: “Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” The final message to humankind before the end of time is an urgent call for worthy worship. And worship that is worthy is centered in the good news of Jesus, respects God, gives Him glory, and honors Him as Creator.
Who we worship matters. The first angel’s message is clear that the only God worthy of our worship is the Creator God. And it is designed to prepare humans to make the right choice and to stand firm against deception in the time of crisis.
Rewind to Daniel 3. The three Hebrew worthies would not engage in unworthy worship of Babylon’s man-made god. Their conflict in ancient Babylon gives us a prophetic preview of the conflict to come with spiritual Babylon, another worship mandate, and another “image.” The issue of worship in the last days will be over man-made religion versus the worship of the true God—and creatorship is how we know the difference. (See Rev. 4:11) Worthy worship is tied to God’s creatorship.
Why does God’s creatorship matter? If evolution is true and God is not the Creator of all life, then Genesis 1 is a myth and there is no God. If Genesis 1 is myth, then so is Genesis 2, and there is no Sabbath, and no divine plan for the sexes or the family. If Genesis 2 is myth, then so is Genesis 3, and there is no such thing as “sin,” rendering the first prophetic proclamation of the coming Messiah (Genesis 3:15) irrelevant. And if Genesis 3 is myth and there is no sin, then the cross means nothing! Acknowledging the Creator and the creation story also acknowledges the entrance of sin and validates the need for a Savior. No Creator = No sin = No Messiah. Unworthy worship ultimately gets rid of Jesus!
And Whom we worship is directly linked to how we worship. Worship is not toward ourselves, as if paying homage or reverence to ourselves–kissing a mirror instead of kissing the hand of God. It is just as unworthy to make worship about us, and our tastes, as it is to worship a false god. [See story of Cain and Able in Genesis 4.] Worthy worship is based on the Word of God, not the comfort or convenience of man.
Whatever our style—music, prayer, etc., it must be for the purpose of kissing God and not our preferences, talents, or comfort. Worship is not to be consumed as a product, but given in glory to God (valuing Him higher than anything else.) Worship that is worthy prostrates self; worship that is unworthy promotes self.
And we can’t overlook the truth that if the Creatorship of God is the basis for worthy worship, then the same is true regarding the signature of the Creator on His creation—the Sabbath.
It is clear from Rev. 14:12 that worthy worship is connected to the commandments of God. Which commandments? From the language of Rev. 14:7 we know we’re taking about the Ten Commandments, and in particular, the fourth.
Compare: “Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water” (Rev. 14:7), to “In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them” (Exodus 20:11).
“The biblical summons to worship ‘Him who made,’ the Creator-God, must include a call to return to the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath….Instituted at creation, it is embedded in the Ten Commandments written by God’s own finger. In an age that presents evolution as the explanation of how life began, there is to be a clear and decisive appeal to return to the understanding of God as Creator and to observe the only day that Scripture identifies as being sanctified and blessed—His memorial of creatorship, the seventh-day Sabbath.” (John T. Anderson, Three Angels, One Message, p. 21)
The Sabbath is about more than what day you go to church; it’s about which God you honor as worthy—the God of Creation and Salvation, or the god of tradition and convenience. And how we worship today has a lot to say about how we will worship tomorrow in the coming crisis with Babylon.
John T. Anderson goes on to say, “When we examine the Scriptures, it becomes clear that obedience is the highest form of [“worthy”] worship, and that without it all worship is meaningless.”
How to have a better worship experience:
- Prepare to worship on Sabbath, by worshiping all week.
- Pray with face to the ground.
- Pray when you enter worship space. (For others as well as yourself; to connect with God.)
- Seek God’s face more than His hand.
- Come prepared to give, not just take.
- Bring your own Bible. (Listen for God’s instructions for change in your life.)
Worthy worship takes God seriously, takes God’s Word seriously, and takes God’s law seriously. Have you worshiped God today? –Pastor Randy
